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France honors vets at West Point

Associated Press, @ap
2:56 p.m. EDT May 10, 2014

Francis M. Dorsey of Stony Point receives the Legion of Honor from Bertrand Lortholary, the Consul General of France in New York, during a ceremony at West Point May 9, 2014. 34 American World War II Veterans received the medal, considered to be one of France’s highest honors.
(Photo:
Joe Larese/The Journal News
)

WEST POINT – Almost 70 years after Joseph Federico was wounded and captured in the hedgerows of France, he was personally thanked Friday by that country’s government during a heartfelt ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy.

The 88-year-old Belvidere, New Jersey, resident was among 34 World War II veterans decorated as knights of France’s Legion of Honor in a ceremony leading up to the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings that began June 6, 1944. Many honorees had white hair and stooped postures and rose slowly to have the medals pinned to their chests.

But, to a man, they said the honor was welcome seven decades after their service.

The French Legion of Honor is an order of distinction established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. Hundreds of Americans have been awarded the medal in the decade since France opened eligibility to living U.S. veterans who fought on French territory during any of four major campaigns. But Consul General of France Bertrand Lortholary said it was important to show their gratitude at West Point in front of the cadets who will make up the next generation of U.S. officers.

Lortholary told the veterans and their family members packed into a high-ceilinged hall overlooking the Hudson River that they will always remember their sacrifices as well as the ones made by their comrades who rest in French soil.

“Seventy years have passed since then, and yet the memory of the sacrifice of American soldiers remains more vivid than ever in the villages of France — in Normandy, in Provence, in the Ardennes, whose cemeteries bear witness to war’s cost in life,” Lortholary said. “I want to tell you that your example gives us inspiration for the future.”